About 19 African foreigners were charged and released for causing
havoc and threatening the sate of security at JKIA .
The foreigners were on transit to Bankok , Guanzhou and
Dubai but the KQ airline had mishaps and offered to give them
accommodation in local hotels.
Both men and women from different Francophone countries and
Congo spent several hours in court custody for lack of a French interpreter.
Yesterday, Prosecution stated they were aggressive after the airline
offered to compensate their flight delay and refused to follow lawful
instructions in a foreign land.
They were released without a fine under section 35(1) a of
the CPC act. Before their charges were read aloud they were unclear on whether
they could understand any of the East african languages or English.
Translation was partly conducted by one of the accused from
Congo. They all affirmed to paralyzing
operations at the airport and blocking security personnel’s as a gang.
However, Senior Principal Magistrate Theresia Mwangi
expressed discomfort with the translation and insisted for the court to access
a French translator.
“The offence has a serious penalty and the delay is
necessary to ensure your understanding and no excuses made after the sentence.”
she warned.
After spending four days in custody and missing their flight
they all knelled int he dock mitigating for their release hoping to avoid further
delays. One of the cried in court saying they had not feed for those 24 hours
in custody and they were parents.
The court adjourned their case for several hours and
released all stating they had learned their lessons and considered that their
flight was rescheduled for the same evening.
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